1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a device (such as a semiconductor elemental device, photo-imaging elemental device, flat panel display device such as a LCD (liquid crystal display) element device, a PDP (plasma display panel) element device, EL (electroluminescent) display element device, FED (field emission display) element device, Electric Paper display element device etc., thin film magnetic head elemental device, and so forth) that uses a projection exposure apparatus at the time of photo-transferring a mask pattern onto a substrate within the process of lithography for manufacturing the device, wherein the projection optical system for projecting the image of the pattern of the first object onto the second object and the projection optical system thereof are provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
When manufacturing a semiconductor elemental device or so forth, a projection exposure apparatus in a scanning exposure format is used like that of a batch exposure format or the step-and-scan method where a stepper is used to transfer an image of a reticle pattern through a projection optical system as a mask onto a wafer (or glass plate or so forth) that has a photo resist applied thereon. Further, in accordance with the advancement of the refining of patterns such as that of a semiconductor integrated circuit, the demand for increased performance in the projection optical system used in these projection exposure apparatuses is growing, especially in regards to the improvement of the resolving power of a projection optical system. In order to improve this resolving power, the shortening of the exposure wavelength or the increasing of the numerical aperture (N.A.) can be conceived.
With the projection exposure apparatus described above, the i line (365 nm) from the g line (436 nm) of the mercury vapor lamp is used as the exposure light with recent trends moving towards a shorter wavelength. For this reason, a projection optical system that can be used in conjunction with a short wavelength exposure light is being developed.
Furthermore, in conjunction with the improvement of the resolving power, the demand for minimized image warping in projection optical systems is ever increasing. In addition to that caused by distortion, which originates in the projection optical system, there is image warping that is caused by the bend of the wafer that is printed by the image side of the projection optical system as well as that caused by the bend of the reticle drawn by the circuit pattern on the object side of the projection optical system.
In recent years, the refinement of the transferred pattern is increasingly advanced, and the demand for minimized image warping is ever increasing. Therefore, in order to reduce the effect on the image warping due to the bend of the wafer, a so-called image-side telecentric optical system has been conventionally used that places the image side exit pupil position of the projection optical system farther away.
Meanwhile, in regard to the reduction of the image warping due to the bend of the reticle, a so-called object-side telecentric optical system can be conceived that places the entrance pupil position of the projection optical system farther away from the object plane, and there are proposals for moving the entrance pupil position of the projection optical system comparatively farther away in this manner.
In order to improve the resolving power, the problem lies in the reduction of the transmission factor of the glass material constitutes the projection optical system when using an exposure light with a short wavelength, and in the limited availability of glass material that can be used to secure a high transmission factor. Furthermore, the reduction of the transmission factor is not due exclusively to the loss of the amount of light. Rather, because a portion of the lost light is absorbed into the glass material and through its conversion to heat energy, the refractive index of the glass material of the lens changes or the shape of the lens surface changes, thereby resulting in a reduction of the performance of image formation and especially causing fluctuation in the aberration in the exposure. Moreover, the aberration fluctuation in the exposure is also a reverse phenomenon since it disappears when the heat energy in the lens composition disappears after completing exposure, or in other words, when the heated lens cools.